by Lucia Kuhl
"He'll live. He'll most likely be riding a desk for a few weeks, but he'll be normal in a few months."
That was good news, right? It was. It was good news. His life had been saved. He'd been shot protecting Lizzie and me. I needed to remember that fact.
"I am glad he'll be okay. It doesn't change the fact that death happens all around me. Sooner or later, I'll bring death to Abracadabra. He'll hurt a member of my family."
"You don't know that."
How much evidence did the man need?
"Of Course, I know that. I thought coming home would get whoever to show his ugly face by picking a new consultant to harass. Instead, he followed me home."
"Again, you don't know that."
Really?
"I don't know if the sun will come up tomorrow, but I plan on it. And I believe the killer is after me."
"Have you lived your life in such a way you'd be on someone's hit list?"
See, this was another reason I didn't do family. Vito never revealed anything. Just got you to spill your frustrations which let him see into your soul. Probably what made him a great mob boss.
"Not a normal person's list, but the fact he is killing people means he's not normal."
Vito reached into a cooler next to me and handed me a root beer.
"Is this still your drug of choice?"
"Yes. It's 35 degrees out here. What’s with the cooler?” And then realization dawn. “What else is in there?"
"Nothing you need to worry about. You know, your grandmother started you on that drug when you were just a baby. We had to watch you like a hawk because you couldn't read the labels and stole everyone's beer. One day, when you were still little, the door to a liquor store was open, and you tried to drag a six-pack out the door."
"Don't try to change the subject. I want my tire back."
"You'll get it after you've seen your niece and mother. You also have to say a proper goodbye to your brother."
"But."
"No buts. I will protect my family. Not your job, Faith. Your job is to help us raise your niece. And to help your brother see your mother and me through our senior years. And to raise that puppy who already loves you." He patted Sampson on the head.
Darn, I hated it when he was… whatever he just was. Maybe the word was fatherly. Not quite the word I usually used regarding Vito. Tears filled my eyes.
"I can't do those things if I'm dead."
"You will not die. I have connections."
I had no doubt he had connections. If Vito determined my serial killer's identity before the police or I did, his connections would extinguish the problem.
"I came pretty close to it today."
He leaned forward in his chair.
"I don't believe the shooter was aiming at you."
"How can you be sure?" I pulled the tab on my root beer. I might as well drink it rather than holding the cold can in my hand.
"Because I know these things. I'm certain the shooter was aiming at Wallbanger. Special Agent Wallbanger thought so too."
"And you know that because of your connections, or did Arie tell you?"
"Both. It's not your job to protect the family, Faith. Go home and think about your choice. Your mother will be here tomorrow, as will Tiffany. If you want to leave after you see them, I won't stop you."
"Do I have a choice?"
"No. But you can have another root beer. Did you notice I bought your favorite brand?"
CHAPTER 25
Vito walked Sampson and me home last night. He said it was for our safety. Sure. He was just making sure I didn't call a cab. That thought occurred to me. However, growing up the daughter of a mob boss, I learned one of Vito's ‘contacts' was never far away.
For a mob boss, Vito certainly had a lot of police-type information. Almost like he had a direct line into a high-level law enforcement operation. Or maybe he was one himself. It was just a thought.
This morning when I let Sampson out, he came back inside with one of Vito's cards attached to him.
"Nothing Fancy 10:00. Be there."
Vito needed to modernize. People didn't leave cards anymore. They sent a text. And it would have been nice if he'd sent a car for me. If I followed the road, Nothing Fancy was a mile and a half walk. I could cut across the property, but it alternated between ice, snow, and mud in different sections.
Yes, it had been an adventure to walk from home to the Garden Center as a kid. Now, well, it was more like work. Expensive cars, dinners, and clothes had robbed me of my country girl fitness.
"Come on, Sampson. You get to meet some more of the family," I said. He trotted over to his leash, pulled it down, and sat on it. So, we needed to work on consistency. Well, two out of three wasn't bad.
Walking with Sampson was always an experience and brought me back to the wonder of my youth. Every twig, dead flower, or rock excited him and called for an investigation. While I knew my Feng Shui eyes were open, I didn't feel the thrill Sampson did at each and every item. Maybe I should. Perhaps that was part of the in-between.
We took the road for the first mile and then cut through the perennial beds for the last half mile. In a couple of months, this bed would be filled with perennials of all types. For now, it was just tables and pea gravel.
A thin white-haired woman with bright red lipstick and earrings came from the back of the garden center. She was flanked on one side by a young blond girl and Vito on the other side. I hadn't seen Mom in person in twenty years. But I followed her on social media. I'd kept tabs on her, Dad, and Arie from afar. No matter how strange they were, they were still my family. All that to say, Mom was looking frail.
Tears streamed down my face. What the heck was wrong with me? Trixie was the woman who dropped me off at my aunt's house and left in the middle of the night. Or picked me up and brought me back to Gram and Gramps. Sometimes, one of Vito's henchmen transported me. Mom sent presents when the only thing I wanted was to see her face. So why was I crying?
"Trixie," I said.
She stopped pulling the dead leaves off a sky pencil holly and, without turning around, said. "Faith, you came."
I walked around her to face her.
"Vito didn't give me much choice."
She pulled off her gardening gloves.
"This is a beautiful specimen. I was thinking of planting it in your father's front yard. What do you think?"
"I think you only want it in front if you want to send a prickly message."
"I thought that's what you would say." She dusted off her hands. "It's good to see you, Faith. It's been too long."
"It has been a long time, Trixie."
She extended her hand.
"Come. I want you to meet your niece. She's in the greenhouse." She gripped my hand so hard I thought she'd break a bone. I noticed her uneven gait. Her hand went to my arm for support. Trixie, like Vito, had always been larger than life but differently. While people feared Vito, they idolized Trixie. I had been her biggest fan. Seeing her frail was new and gut-wrenching.
Each plant we passed she took a second to feel.
Inside, I found a beautiful teenager watering the pansy shoots.
"Hey, Grams."
"Hi, Princess," Trixie said.
An old pain shot through me. As a child, she'd called me Princess.
"Come say hi to your Aunt Faith."
Trixie felt for a bench and sat down.
"Princess, why don't you show Faith around. I'm going to sit here a bit and rest."
"Sure, Grams," said my niece. I walked towards Tiffany. I'm sure the expression on my face said everything.
"She's losing her sight," Tiffany explained when we were out of earshot. "Brain tumor."
I wobbled slightly as the meaning of the words crashed through me.
"Can they operate?"
We passed through the sliding glass doors into the next greenhouse.
"They don't tell me a lot. But I heard Arie and Vito talking. They can, but it's somewhat risky. Trixie
wanted to see you again before she had surgery."
"Why didn't she just call?" I said more to myself than to Tiffany.
"I heard her tell a friend on the phone; she didn't think you'd take her call."
CHAPTER 26
Shortly after meeting Tiffany, I told her I needed to process the news. I kissed my mother goodbye for the day, not forever, and walked back to my house. The information my mother had been holding off surgery until I returned sucked everything out of me. I truly needed to process.
Thank God for Sampson. He kept me as grounded as I could be on our walk back home. Trixie had been an absentee mother, but she was still my mother. And she hadn't always been absent. There had been good times. Times when she came to visit while I was in Montana and when she and Vito were home with us in Abracadabra. There weren't many times, but there were a few, and there were always extravagant presents.
I wanted to feel hurt, that my mother didn't think I'd take her call, but there were times in the past when she'd been right. But I would have called, been here, if I'd known about the tumor.
Which was a cop-out. If I didn't love Trixie enough to take her call for little things, I didn't love her enough for the big stuff. That 'dried bone" had just fractured. Tears poured from my eyes.
"It will be okay," the voice I’d come to recognize as The Lighter said. "You are here now. You must fix now before you come into your powers."
"Don’t you mean I must fix the past and what powers?"
“We cannot ‘fix the past. We can only fix now. As for your powers, you'll see. Burr, it's cold."
I felt my right foot step on the hardwood inside my house. My left foot was still on pea gravel a mile away. For a nanosecond, I was stuck. Then my left foot joined my right foot inside the house. Sampson was right beside me. How the heck did that just happen? Talk about being in two places at once.
CHAPTER 27
A few hours later, I sat on the back porch, wrapped in a heavy quilt, sipping a hot chocolate, and watching Sampson chase a squirrel around the outside of his pen. It was peaceful. Then, I saw Vito's bald head peek around the side of the house.
"You're not going to shoot me, are you?" he asked.
Actually, I was almost relieved to see him. I knew he was real. I was still a lot shaken from the two places at once thing on top of my mother’s brain tumor.
"I haven't decided. I may shoot you. Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It never seemed to be the right time. And can you please come over here and unlock this gate?"
"I haven't decided if I want to."
"Well, I'd rather not shout the information I have for you." The set of his jaw said he had valuable information I'd want.
"Okay," I rose to my feet. "How about if I walk over there, you give me a taste of the info, and then I'll decide if I let you in."
He laughed. "You are your parents’ daughter."
He pulled a piece of paper from a file and handed it to me when I reached the gate.
"What's this?"
"I'll tell you if you let me in."
I unhooked the gate.
"When you said you couldn't do this anymore. I realized what you meant was you couldn't take much more. So, you and I are going to partner up. Kind of like that old TV show Feather and Father."
Wow, I hadn't thought of that show in years. Vito was shorter than Harold Gould, the father part of the team. But Vito could undoubtedly have given them some tips on mischief.
"Her father was always getting into trouble as I remember it." I opened the gate and let him through.
"See, we are perfect," he said, following me to the porch. Chairs had appeared on the back porch as well. They magically materialized out of thin air. Amazing.
"Okay. I can't leave now knowing Mom's health. I can't let her care fall on Tiffany, who, by the way, is an amazing young lady. So." I couldn't believe what I was about to say. "As much as I know I'm going to regret this, I'm in with your crazy scheme."
"You are?" Vito's eyes grew wide.
"Yeah, I can't deal with any more death. So, tell me what all these numbers mean on this paper?"
I sat on the chair and examined the paper.
"It appears your friend Lizzie has been withdrawing $10,000 a week from Mr. Raymont's checking and household accounts. It comes out of various accounts on different days of the week, but the total at the end of the week is always exactly $10,000."
"That's interesting. Where does the money go?"
Vito grabbed a chair and pulled it beside mine. He leaned over to point. I remembered that aftershave. Those were good times.
"The more interesting part," he said. "It goes into what appears to be Lizzie’s pass-through business account. The money is then withdrawn in cash at various ATMs throughout the week."
"Okay, but she is on the road a lot for her business."
"I know. The withdrawals are always made when she's in the city. The ATMs are on the other side of town."
"That doesn't make any sense. Are you sure Lizzie is the one making the withdrawals?"
"It gets more interesting. The person who makes the withdrawals is always wearing a hat, gloves, and sunglasses." He pulled a photo from his file folder and handed it to me. The woman was the right height and build for Lizzie. The little wisps of hair peeking from under her hat matched Lizzie’s color, but I couldn't see enough of her face to be sure.
"So, we aren't sure that it's Lizzie?"
He leaned back in his chair.
"No, but she sure appears guilty of something."
"Or someone is setting her up. Trust me. I know the feeling.” At that moment, I knew what I needed to do. It was like some weird force pushed me. “I need to drop in on Lizzie at Raymont Manor."
Vito stood and opened the back door.
"I will drive you. My presence might put the fear of God into Charles."
"Well, that's good because I still don't have a tire. I'll go change.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
"Right, I'll see that the tire issue is fixed while we're gone."
CHAPTER 28
Vito and I were on our way to Raymont Manor. I wasn't sure bringing Vito along was a great idea, but he had my tire, so what could I do?
"Have you thought about how you'll make a living?" Vito asked.
"I'm sure you already know the answer. Financially, I don't have to work."
"But…"
"Spiritually, creatively, mentally, and physically I need to work."
"And…" again with the one line to get me to bare my soul.
"And so, I'm thinking of turning my property into a flower farm." I floated that out there just to see what he would say. For a mob boss, Vito knew a lot about business. And he was up to date on trends. Something Arie wasn't. I was going to need muscle and growing know-how. Having Vito's blessing would help.
"A Flower Farm," Vito echoed. "Those have become very popular recently."
"Yes, they have. A successful one would bring business to Nothing Fancy and the other businesses in Abracadabra as well as Moon Lake."
"There aren't many businesses left in Abracadabra. Your aunt is considering closing her furniture shop. She's not all that happy with Shayla running it anymore. There's Candy's Bakery and Cafe. The florist closed their doors last month."
"I thought I saw a flyer for a new pet store on Arie's refrigerator."
Vito turned left onto the highway. Apparently, he knew they’d moved the roads.
"Yes, they plan to open this summer."
His not adding additional information was suspect, but I was more interested in my flower farm. I could find out the details on the animal place later.
"Well, maybe I can do something about my aunt's store and include a florist operation into my Flower Farm."
Vito pulled the car off the road into a convenience mart.
"So, you've been considering this for some time."
"I won’t lie. It’s been in the back of my mind for
a few months. At some point last year, before the bodies started dropping, I started feeling this call to chase my dream. I haven’t made any final decisions yet."
"And now." Wow, he was good at the prodding.
"I think I’ll call Aunt Georgia tomorrow. But first, we need to talk to Lizzie. We can't do that parked in this lot."
"Right." He put the car in drive, and we were off.
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into Raymont Manor. Two police cars sat in the driveway. One marked. One unmarked. As we neared the door, Lizzie appeared with Blake holding her elbow. For a split second, a place deep within me was jealous. Then realization dawned. Blake was arresting Lizzie.
I hopped out of the car and ran towards them.
"What's going on?"
Blake smiled for a second and then frowned.
"Nothing you need to be concerned about."
How many times in the last couple of days had I heard that phrase or a similar sentence? It was getting annoying. Really annoying.
"Well, I'm already concerned. So…"
"He's arresting me," Lizzie cried as Blake helped her into the back seat of the marked police car. He closed the door and tapped the roof. The police car drove away.
Blake put up his hands in a "calm down" gesture.
"Don’t worry. I have my reasons. It will be okay."
I crossed my arms.
"That's all I can say," he added. He turned around and stood inches from me as if he was waiting for me to say more. So, I complied.
"Well, she couldn't have shot at us. Because she was with me."
"I get that, but you said you thought there were two killers." His fingers brushed my elbow as he led me towards his car.
"This is crazy. She wouldn't shoot him. Lizzie loved Mr. Raymont."
He leaned against his car.
"Love and greed don't mix well."
"So, you think this is about money," Vito said.
Blake nodded.
"I think I need to stop talking and get to the station to question Lizzie."
I started to object when he flung his arm around me and walked me towards Dad's car.
